Friday, November 18, 2016

On Thursday 17th November
2016 the annual Constantinople Lecture, organised by the Anglican and Eastern
Churches Association, took place at Southwark Cathedral. This year’s lecture
was given by Professor Andrew Louth. The evening began with evensong in the
Cathedral. Firstly Fr William Taylor, Chairman of the AECA welcomed everyone
for coming to this event and also thanked Bishop Christopher for hosting this
event in the Cathedral. After this introduction I had the opportunity and
honour to introduce Fr Andrew Louth. The Professor examined his topic giving a
great exegesis of the issue of Calendar, explaining its importance for
Christianity, whilst also identifying how other religions understand the issue
of calendar. He also gave his views on the current issue of Easter, and whether
it could change or not, or whether East and West could celebrate Easter on the
same day. For those who are members of the AECA, the next issue of Koinonia[1]
will have this year’s lecture published there. Following is the introduction I
gave before the Fr Andrew Louth’s paper:

‘Your Eminence, Bishop Christopher, Reverent clergy,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Anglican and
Eastern Churches Association, I would like to welcome you all to this year’s
Constantinople Lecture. This year we are glad to be hosted here at
Southwark Cathedral and would like to offer our gratitude to the Bishop of
Southwark and the Dean of Southwark Cathedral for hosting our event here at
this beautiful place of worship.

Just
before I invite our speaker for tonight, I will introduce him; and what an
honour it is. It is interesting how I am introducing him, since I am in a way
his academic grandchild, given that he was my supervisor’s supervisor.
Therefore, we do have an academic connection. Also we work together in many
groups including the Orthodox Theological Research Forum (also known as OTRF,
which is a pan-Orthodox forum in which work by Orthodox Christian scholars in
the various fields of theological studies is presented and discussed within the
context of the ongoing tradition and contemporary theological education), the
Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies (which is an Educational Institution in
Cambridge on Orthodox Studies, being a member of the Cambridge Theological
Federation and has close ties with the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of
Divinity) and the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius (an Ecumenical body
with similar goals as the ones expressed by the AECA) where Fr Andrew is the
Editor of its journal Sobornost since
2005.

Fr Andrew
Louth is Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies, Durham
University, and was Visiting Professor of Eastern Orthodox Theology at the
Amsterdam Centre of Eastern Orthodox Theology (ACEOT), from 2010 to 2014. He is
an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh (Moscow Patriarchate),
serving the parish of St Cuthbert and St Bede Orthodox Church in Durham.
Educated at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, he has taught at the
universities of Oxford, and London Goldsmith’s College, and finally Durham,
retiring in 2010, in which year he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

His
research interests lie mostly in the history of theology in the Greek
tradition, specifically the period of the Byzantine Empire (up to 1453), but
also later, especially in the modern period (nineteenth century onwards), where
his research interests also include Russian and Romanian (Orthodox) theology.
This interest also embraces the philosophical traditions (often called
'Neoplatonic') of the Byzantine period.

He is the
author of several books, including The
Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys (1981;
revised in 2007) Discovering the Mystery (1983),
Denys the Areopagite (1989), Maximus the Confessor (1996), St John Damascene: Tradition and Originality
in Byzantine Theology (2002), Greek
East and Latin West: The Church AD 681 – 1071 (2007), Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology (2013) and Modern Orthodox Thinkers From the Philokalia
to the present (2015).

Fr Andrew
Louth is undoubtedly one of the most significant patristic scholars and
Orthodox theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s fair to say that if you have not yet
read his books, then you have not read Orthodox theology. He is one of the
greatest voices of Orthodoxy in the West, contributing greatly to the
discipline of theology.

Today our
speaker will give a paper on ‘Easter, Calendar, and Cosmos: an Orthodox view.’
Easter and the dating of this Christian celebration is an important topic,
which is crucial for both East and West. I am sure that today’s talk will be
eye opening to us all. And now I would like to invite our speaker, Fr Andrew
Louth. Thank you.’

About Me

I have studied Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Theology, International Relations at the University of London (Queen Mary). My Master's Thesis was published as a book: 'The Aegean Sea Dispute Between Greece and Turkey - The Consequences for NATO and the EU'. For more information see: http://www.akakia.net/el/the-aegean-sea-dispute-between-greece-and-turkey
I have also studied Byzantine Music in Athens and I am currently undertaking a research on the “Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius and its contribution towards Anglican – Orthodox Relations”, at the University of Winchester.
I also represent the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain at the A.E.C.A. If you wish to contact me you can email me: demetrifs1@yahoo.com